(JWR) ---- (http://www.jewishworldreview.com) SCARCELY A DAY GOES BY without a reference to preparations for the new
millennium.

First, what's a millennium, anyway? A millennium is a period of
1,000 years. Does the next millennium start at the beginning of next year
(2000) at the stroke of midnight? Most people think it does, and they're
wrong.

Here's how to think about when the new -- third -- millennium starts.

Pretend I owe you $3,000, and I'm counting them out to you one dollar at a
time, and I get up to $1,997, $1,998 $1,999. Now the question is: When have
I finished counting out the second thousand dollars and begin on the next --
third -- thousand dollars? I don't start counting out the next thousand
dollars until after I add another one dollar to that $1,999 that I've
already given you, making the total $2,000. I start counting out the next
one thousand dollars when I've given you $2001.

This reasoning also applies to counting years. The second millennium does
not end in 1999, and the third does not begin in 2000. The second millennium
ends midnight, Dec. 31, 2000, and the third millennium starts immediately
afterward, in the year 2001.

All around the world, there are massive plans in place to celebrate the
next millennium (and 21st century) when 1999 expires. I'm not the only one
aware of the mistake. There must be people in the major news network like
ABC, CBS, NBC and CNN who will read this column and are intelligent enough
to understand the mistake.

Moreover, they have the means to get the word
out. To combat public and official ignorance about the new millennium, the
evening news should end with a statement like, "That's it for tonight, in
the next to the last year of the second millennium." School boards could
order teachers to explain the error to America's precious children. Why
won't they?

If people discovered that the new millennium begins in 2001 rather than
2000, would they cancel all the plans they are making now to celebrate and
welcome in next year as the new millennium? Some of the plans are gigantic
and costly. Some airlines plan to have flights over the international date
line so passengers can experience the "new millennium" twice. New York City
is coughing up mega-bucks for a megaton crystal ball to replace the current
one that has been descending on New Year's Eve. Web sites around the world,
including one at the White House, have clocks counting down the "last" days,
hours and minutes left in the second millennium. The United States is not
the only country with costly celebration plans.

I suspect there will be no efforts to cancel plans for next year's
celebration in light of the error being made known. In fact, I suspect that
some people will be downright angry at the suggestion that they're
celebrating nothing but the start of another year and not the new
millennium. How do we explain this? Let me speculate.

The math error might be explained by the fact it's the first time in
anybody's life that all numbers change at year-end instead of only one or
two, as it has been all of our lives. My second explanation is not as
flattering. That is, people believe that the new millennium starts next
year. Despite evidence to the contrary, they want to hold on to their
beliefs simply because that's what they believe and it's better that way.

Let me propose a middle ground. Keep the celebration plans, but call it
celebrations for the last year of a century that featured mankind's greatest
achievements as well as his unparalleled
brutality. B>